A global war on women is raging, and everyone who is fed up with any or all of the violence, exploitation, and dehumanization of women that are perpetrated and justified every day, should get active in the movement to End Pornography and Patriarchy: The Enslavement and Degradation of Women (Stop Patriarchy).  There is an urgent need, and many ways big and small for people everywhere, acting as individuals or getting organized into groupings and chapters, to express their outrage and fight to END the brutality, the stalking, the humiliation, the rape, the assault, the harassment, the belittling, the veiling, the shaming, the exploitation, the abuse, the objectification, the silencing and the oppression of women and young girls from one corner of the globe to the other.  

Stop Patriarchy maintains that despite the seeming “permanence” of all this enslavement and degradation of women, all this can and must be ended.

Getting involved in Stop Patriarchy on any level means joining a growing community of people who refuse to sit down, shut up, and accept that half of humanity is systematically treated as less than human. It means giving voice to the suppressed outrage of millions, and calling on others to do the same.

Contributing to the fight to Stop Patriarchy is one of the most important things anyone can possibly do with their time. Below are 13 important ways that you can participate in this crucial process.

1. Read Stop Patriarchy's Call to Action and, if possible, get a few people together to discuss it.  "We are told that 'equality for women has been won' and that 'there are no limits to what girls can achieve.' BULLSHIT!  Every 15 seconds a woman is beaten. Every day three to four women are killed by their partners. One out of four female college students will be raped or sexually assaulted while in college." Most people do not even know that this is the reality for women today, and many others have learned to accept it.  Read the full Call to Action and invite others into the conversation about imagining sex without porn, ending the attacks on abortion rights, re-envisioning the world, and arguing out what it will take to actually end patriarchy!  If you have any questions, please visit our "Frequently Asked Questions" page.  And again - always feel free to contact us directly.
   
   
2. Spread the Call to Action everywhere.  Think of the tremendous difference it could make for this Call -- its exposure of important truths, and its vision and approach for the full liberation of women -- to be distributed widely and confronted by millions, puncturing the atmosphere of acceptance of the unacceptable.
      -Spread it online – through Facebook, Twitter, email and other social media.  
      -Post it on your blog or quote from it and link to it in the comments section of other websites when             there are relevant discussions going on.  
      -Post it up on bulletin boards in dorms, laundromats, and coffee shops.
      -Hand it out at concerts and events.
      -Leave it on the seat next to you on the bus or on the chairs of classrooms.
   If you can do this as a group in a very visible way, all the better!  If you'd rather just leave it where others might run into it on their own, make it happen!  Don't pre-judge any place as being “inappropriate” to spread this message, you never know who you will run into, and what it can mean for individuals to find the room to think and talk about "what you are not supposed to talk about!"  Even if people don't agree all at once, this is how we begin a society-wide process. Check out this write up from a teenager who took palm-cards for this movement to a rural rodeo!  Whatever you do, write to us and let us know how it went!  [email protected]
   
   
3. Defend abortion clinics, escort patients, and stand up for Abortion On Demand and Without Apology! Right now, abortion rights in this country are in an all-out state of emergency!  It is urgent that people everywhere stand up against the move to criminalize abortion and force women back into the enslavement of forced motherhood.  In the last three years, there have been 203 restrictions passed restricting abortion across the country and the “pro-life” movement is determined not to stop until all abortions are illegal in all cases.  At almost every abortion clinic – even in places like New York City, let alone places like Alabama, Mississippi and North Dakota –  patients and staff are harassed on their way inside.  This must be resisted!  Read HERE about how to do this.  
   
   In addition to defending clinics, escorting patients, and staging protests, it is important to go out to people very broadly to change public opinion around abortion, rallying more people to support abortion on demand and without apology and giving initiative and back to those who already feel this way.  One particularly important place to do this is on or near college campuses and high schools to reach young people.  Another important area are the communities and businesses near abortion clinics where people are often very used to seeing anti-abortion protesters but rarely see public support for abortion rights.  Take the Abortion On Demand Statement out to people, together with the Stop Patriarchy Call to Action, and bring a sign-up sheet to be able to stay in touch with and involve people who are supportive.
   
   
4. Hold a Stop Patriarchy Movie Night.  There are a lot of great movies that get people thinking and talking about the oppression of women, about how things could be different, and about the lessons we can learn from others about how to wage this fight.  Use the Call to Action to draw out themes and ideas from the film.  At the same time, give yourselves space to trip out and explore the issues raised in the film even if they do not always directly relate.  HERE you will find a list of movies we recommend along with reviews and commentary where we have it.  Check back regularly as we will be updating this list frequently and we hope you will send in your recommendations as well!   Write to us and share what people had to say after watching the film, what questions came up, what you learned through exploring it together.  We want to share that with other readers. If you are really into this, set up a regular movie night once a month or once a week so that more and more people know where to find you regularly.  See if there is a local coffee shop, church, community space, room on campus or other place where this could be held.  Or, take turns hosting it in different people's homes. 
   
   
5. Hold a Stop Patriarchy Open Mic Night.  Right now the culture is saturated with misogyny and woman-hating. We need a culture of revolt against this revolting culture!  We need a culture of liberation, of defiance, of not just condemnation of all the degradation, but of actively envisioning and creating the new!  Bring people together to share poetry and songs, rhymes and artwork, theater pieces and other cultural expressions that celebrate, envision, and bring closer the kind of world we are fighting for.  Click HERE for ideas on how to organize a Stop Patriarchy Open Mic and to read some of the poetry that has been shared at previous Stop Patriarchy events.  
   
   
6. Host an event or a debate with a Stop Patriarchy speaker.   
   
   Hold an Event.  Invite Sunsara Taylor or another leader of Stop Patriarchy to speak at your campus, religious congregation, community center, or organization.  Taylor, as well as the other leaders of Stop Patriarchy, have tremendous experience breaking down the war on women as well as the need and possibility of winning full liberation with passion and substance.  Learn more about Sunsara Taylor HERE. View her speech, “From the Burkha to the Thong – Everything Must and Can Change! We Need A Total Revolution!” HERE, her speech in North Dakota during the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride HERE, and one of her appearances on Bill O'Reilly's show HERE [[more Coming Soon]].  And read the reaction of one student who saw her recently, HERE [[more Coming Soon]].
   
   Hold a Debate.  Many people haven't made up their minds fully about abortion, about pornography, about whether there really is a war on women and, if so, how it should be fought. Debates are great because they give people a chance to hear the best arguments on both sides, they often attract many people who normally wouldn't think they'd be interested in women's liberation, and they provide a chance to sway people who start out disagreeing.  Suggested topics: Abortion – For or Against?, Pornography: Harmless Fun or Female Enslavement?, Have Women Achieved Liberation? A Debate, or other topics.  To prepare for your debate, read up on our Frequently Asked Questions and other resources [[Coming Soon!]] and feel free to write to us for help.
   
   Watch this debate between Sunsara Taylor and Melissa Gira Grant on Pornography and the Sex Industry: Reclaim, Regulate, Uproot or Abolish?
   
   Click HERE to listen to Sunsara Taylor's debate with the head of the National Right to Life.
   
   
7. Donate and raise money.  Giving and raising money is one of the most meaningful and concrete ways to contribute to the fight to end all forms of enslavement and degradation against women.  By giving and raising money you do two things.  First, you make it concretely possible for this movement to print literature, deploy speakers, maintain our website, field media requests, write and produce organizing tools like this one, hold protests, produce stickers and t-shirts to spread the message, and much more.  Second, you join together with a community of people all across this country who share a commitment to bringing into being a liberated future for women everywhere and who are taking responsibility for doing this together.
   
   Take a moment right now and go and make a donation of $10, $100, $1,000, or whatever amount you are able.
   
   Sign up to become one of our monthly sustainers.   
   
   Host a fund-raising dinner or event.  Read here about how to hold a fund-raising party, dinner, or event.  [[Coming Soon!]]
   
   
8. Take the war on women display out in public!  One of the most compelling ways to do public outreach is through setting up the War On Women display.  It is very simple, a lot of fun, and guaranteed to stop people in its tracks. Click here to find out more about the War on Women Display.   
   
   
9. Fight against pornography.   This culture is so saturated by pornography, and by the assumption that “everyone is into porn,” that it is even more essential to find ways to publicly oppose pornography.  This should be done both by protesting against porn shops and events that uphold pornography and by going out to public places and raising the challenge to people everywhere to “Stop Watching Porn and Start Fighting Patriarchy!”  Read HERE about how to do this.
   
   
10. Get in the media.  Its very important to amplify and broadcast everything that we do to fight patriarchy as far as it is possible.  This includes calling in to talk radio shows to argue against misogynist ideas and promote the actions of this movement (including our website!).  It includes working to get local and national media (television, radio, websites and blogs) to cover your protests and other events.  And it includes setting up interviews for national organizers of Stop Patriarchy with media outlets you know about and can get in touch with.  To contact our Media Team with ideas or for help writing press releases, setting up interviews, etc., contact: [email protected]  See press coverage of Stop Patriarchy on last summer's Abortion Rights Freedom Ride HERE.  Check back for updates!
    
    
11. Sport Stop Patriarchy gear everywhere you go. Click HERE.
    
    
12. Sign people up with Stop Patriarchy.  Whatever you do, you can contribute even more to the understanding and trajectory of this fight by signing up everyone you meet (you can use this!).
    
    
13. Send in pictures and/or written reports.  Do NOT underestimate the importance of what you are doing, thinking, or running into – instead, recognize that the more we share all of this, the faster and more deeply we will learn, the more every effort each of us undertakes will be amplified, and the more new people getting involved will understand that they are not alone, that there are others just like them as well as others who are inspiringly different, with whom they will be standing side by side. Send in pictures and reports about what you are learning, what you are up against, and your toughest questions to [email protected].

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